February 2013 - Silver Chips Print

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Montgomery Blair High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

A public forum for student expression since 1937

silverchips

Homeless 19

February 7, 2013

Winner of the 2012 National Pacemaker Award

VOL 75 NO 4

Edline to be discontinued next year Blair mourns death

By Michelle Chavez The use of Edline, a Learning Community Management System (LCMS), will be discontinued and replaced by MyMCPS, a similar MCPS-created system, beginning in the 2013-2014 year. MyMCPS is the system teachers currently use to communicate,

according to the MCPS website. “MyMCPS is a web-based, onestop location for accessing and sharing data and documents and for collaborating with coworkers,” it states. Student Member of the Board (SMOB) John Mannes said the future of MyMCPS will be a comprehensive medium for everyone

in the MCPS system. “My MCPS is designed to be an all-inclusive platform and will have the ability to connect teachers, parents and students,” he said. “MyMCPS is a combination of Gmail, Facebook, Turnitin.com, Edline and some kind of peer review system.”

see EDLINE page 2

Powerful Poetry

of recent graduate

By Katelin Montgomery

several times during the investigation and finally admitted to meeting up with Lee at a bus stop 18-year old Siohban Nicole before partLee, a 2012 ing ways. Blair graduBuckley then ate, was shot explained and killed that after on Jan. 25 in walking Northwest to the next D.C. She was intersection, found at the he heard the intersection gunshot and of 5th and returned to Nicholson the scene to streets NW find Lee. Acwith a guncording to a shot wound press release to the head. by MetropolLee lived itan Police in Takoma COURTESY OF ABC7.COM Department, Park and Fourth worked two GRADUATE Blair staff remembers District units jobs. AccordLee as “a very nice young lady.” found the ing to the victim unconscious and lying investigation, she met the 21-year old suspect, Alexander D. Buckley, on the ground at about 3:24 am. She was pronounced dead by a on a social media app. According to the Washington Post, Buckley changed his story see SHOOTING page 4

Blair’s smooth operators Solving the mystery of the SysOps By Langston Cotman

LEAH HAMMOND

POETRY On February 3, 2013, Blair students, along with other poetry performers, presented their poems at the National Gallery of Art in an effort to make it onto the DC Poetry Youth Slam team.

State rejects teacher evaluation policy Starr’s PGS proposal denied

By Katelin Montgomery On Dec. 26 MCPS, along with 23 other Maryland School Systems, was required to submit a Teacher and Principal Evaluation (TPE) plan to the state superintendent of schools, Lillian L. Lowery, for her consideration and approval. County superintendant Joshua Starr’s revised version of Montgomery County’s existing Professional Growth System (PGS)—the method by which the county reviews its teachers performance—was rejected by the state Department of Education. According to an email message from Starr, “our Teachers’ PGS is nationally recognized as a model because of its comprehensive assessment of teacher performance.” The teacher-led PGS has been successful because it has removed ineffective teachers without the use of standardized testing. The Mar land General Assembly’s Education Reform Act of 2012 as well as

the Maryland State Board of Education’s Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) mandated the county’s submission. The federal Race to the Top program requires specific reforms to be implemented in order to receive money. These reforms include standardized test scores within the teacher evaluation. Although Starr and Jerry Weast, former MCPS superintendent, avoided becoming a part of the Race to the Top program due to this regulation, the state of Maryland will now require these changes. Lowery responded to Starr’s proposal, notifying him that the Maryland State Department of Education had rejected MCPS’s proposal to update the PGS. In the follow up email, Starr expressed his feelings toward the rejection. “This is certainly disappointing news and we believe our Professional Growth System is far superior to the model created by the state,” he said.

NEWS 2 SOAPBOX 7 OPINIONS 8

In a somewhat concealed room in the 320s hallway sits one of Blair’s largest computer labs. Designated as the Magnet computer lab, this dimly lit room houses an array of students tinkering away at computer programs and essays. A small group of students sit in a tucked away enclave crammed with computers and other whirring, blinking machinery that look as if they were beamed down from an episode of Star Trek. At the helm of this potpourri of technological mass sit three men.

They are the system operators, also known as sysops, gatekeepers of the Blair network universe. The sysops, short for system operators, are a group of students who help maintain Blair’s computer network. Their headquarters is in this closed off sanctuary in the back of the Magnet computer lab. From there, the sysops monitor sections of the school network, ranging from the Blair website to BILL, the school’s personal social network. Sysops recognize that their mission is no less daunting than that of Captain Kirk battling

County Competition

see SYSOPS page 18

LEAH HAMMOND

DANCERS The Poms team placed fourth in their county competition and senior Kayla McCaw received a second place captain’s award on February 2.

FEATURES 15 ENTERTAINMENT 21 CHIPS CLIPS 25 LA ESQUINA LATINA 26 SPORTS 29


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